Homecoming is a time for reuniting, but this year’s celebration was special for the St. Thomas football program, which is in the hunt for a fourth-straight MIAC championship title, with the 1973 and 1983 MIAC championship-winning football teams back on campus.

Remembering the past and celebrating the present, the alumni took advantage of Saturday’s festivities to enjoy the fellowship of the St. Thomas football community.

Tim Fischer, a member of the 1983 championship team, said the reunion was the perfect chance to honor Tommie football.

“We just used the opportunity to just kind of pull everybody together, if they wanted to come,” Fischer said. “Try to get more people interested in coming back for homecoming and having some fun, having a beer and reliving old football stories and glory days agone.”

For quarterback Matt O’Connell, having alumni on campus showed the program’s current strength and how it has developed over the years.

“I think it’s a really awesome thing … to have them come back and watch and see what the program is being turned into and where it’s at today,” O’Connell said. “We talk about as a team, and coach talks to us a lot about how the program now was built by those teams back then.”

Notable alumni such as Mark Dienhart, a player on the ‘73 championship team and coach of the ‘83 MIAC title squad, said the program is at its peak.

“Very frankly, I think (St. Thomas’) football program is going through its golden age,” Dienhart said. “The recent performance of the program under coach Caruso is something that I think has made all alumni really proud.”

Coach Glenn Caruso said having alumni on campus allowed players to relive memories that can’t be measured by statistics.

“I think if you speak to the players, they’ll tell you that what they probably remember as much, if not more, than the championships and the wins is the camaraderie and the brotherhood that they shared,” Caruso said.

John Kempainen, ‘73, said his achievements with the Tommie football program could be found on and off the field.

“I am very proud to say that I am an alumnus … and I am even prouder to say that I am a member of the fraternity of football players that have played all the way through the 40, 50, 60 years of St. Thomas football,” Kempainen said.

Caruso said having successful football alumni on campus reminds him and his players of the program’s rich history.

“Regardless of what successes have happened or what successes may happen down the road … when you look at a four-year span in the course of over a century of success, it puts things into perspective,” Caruso said.

Sean Crotty can be reached at crot0230@stthomas.edu.